Question on Fate of 20,000 Indian Students within Ukraine – Congress
What were you thinking? The Indian government did not deport 20,000 Indian students from Ukraine. On Thursday, the Congress queried if it was “timely,” and senior members like Shashi Tharoor as well as Manish Tewari condemned it as “clear.”
“So Russia is conducting a “regime change” operation. How long can India, which has consistently opposed such interventions, remain silent? One appreciates Moscow’s legitimate security concerns, accepting recourse to war. Or it is impossible to justify. We should demand them wait,” Mr Tharoor, a former Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, tweeted.
Referring to an earlier declaration by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar that India would not allow any unilateral alteration of the status quo within the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In another tweet, Mr Tharoor wrote, “This should be our stand on Ukraine as well. Theories based on the attacker’s identity are no longer relevant”.
The mistake should not be repeated
Mr. Tewari stated that India must not repeat the Soviet invasions of Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, and then Afghanistan in 1979 by failing to criticize them.
“India must condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine in unequivocal terms. There comes a time when you need to tell ‘friends’ that they cannot engage in regime change. India’s conduct of international relations should be painted as a spade to spade,” he stated by tagging the Prime Minister’s Office.
Mr Tharoor said he had received desperate messages from trapped students and begged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help. Rather than concentrating on the elections, Mr Tewari shared a video of students waiting outside the Indian embassy within Kyiv in sub-zero weather.
On Twitter, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala queried the government’s “silence” on the Ukraine crisis and the fate of 20,000 Indian students studying medicine and engineering there.
‘Students are terrified.’
Even though Air India provides evacuation flights to Ukraine. 2 more flights were scheduled for Tuesday evening and February 24 and 26, after the Russian invasion.